Saturday
We arranged for a taxi to take us to the ferry terminal in the morning. While I don’t mind a 30 minute walk through town, hauling too much luggage over cobblestone sidewalks didn’t sound like a thrilling start to the day. The taxi arrived right on time and it was money well spent.
We were instructed to arrive 1 hour before boarding, and that entire time was necessary! We went through both French border control and UK border control before boarding the ferry. By the time we were on board, there was only about 10 minutes before departure.
The crossing itself was very uneventful — the waves were calm and we happily parked ourselves (and all our stuff) in the family lounge. We brought lunch with us too, fajitas from the previous day’s leftovers. It worked out great.
We have TOO MUCH STUFF though!
When we arrived in Dover, we had a 30 minute walk to the train station. You’d think Calais and Dover would offer bus service from the city to the ferry terminals, but apparently not. An oversight in my opinion!
We stopped at a little playground half way there to let the kids run off some energy and have a little break. Then we caught the slow train up to London. We had the chance to take a faster train, but it would require two additional transfers in London before arriving at our AirBNB. As we have (too much) luggage, that was two more transfers than absolutely necessary! We opted for the 2 hour train vs the 1 hour quick train.
Once in London we found our bus stop and took the 170 bus right to our doorstep. The apartment looks great — it is an easy bus ride into the tourist section of town, with two bedrooms and a large terrace overlooking the Thames River. It’s also very quiet! I think Battersea will be a good home base for our two weeks here in London.
For dinner we tried a little Italian restaurant right at our corner. The servers were charmed by the kids, especially Caden. I think they would have happily taken him home with them! The burrata mozzarella appetizer was particularly tasty.
Keller took the kids back to the apartment while I checked out the local grocery store. It was a pretty small store, almost like a convenience store. It wasn’t great, but I was able to get some basics for breakfast in the morning anyway.
Sunday
Today we took our time getting rolling — we were all tired from traveling the day before. We walked to lunch at a Thai restaurant in the Battersea area called Bangkok Bay. It had some wonderful flavors, if a bit lacking in the spicy department. The server was very impressed with Kamy’s choice of curry and Caden requesting spicy level 2 on his Pad Thai. Not that either were spicy, but they brought chili flakes to add and that kicked it up.
After lunch we walked to the Battersea Boot — a weekly trunk sale in the neighborhood. We wandered a bit to see everything on sale. Caden was gifted a vintage double decker bus and he bought a small lighthouse to remind him of Calais. Kamy bought two dresses — one formal red dress and one purple Indian sari-style outfit.
(Side note — Giving the kids a weekly “allowance” of 10 pounds / euros has worked out wonderfully. It covers any souvenirs that we would be purchasing for them and it puts the ball in their court to decide what is worth their money. There’s never “Can I have ___?” because the answer is, “Do you want to spend your money on it?” I approve!)
From the Boot Keller went back to a concert while I took the kids to the Battersea Park. To their surprise, there is a ropes course and zip line set up above the park. I declined to pay for it, but the kids had fun playing at the park regardless. The kids happily played at the park for about 2 hours before it was time to head back. We walked past Kamy’s favorite bridge on the way back home.
Keller said the concert was pretty good! It was at the O2 arena and Keller was most interested in seeing Supertramp. One of the Yes bands was performing as well and Keller said they did a much better job than the Yes group he saw in NYC three years ago.
Monday
Today we decided to check out the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. Keller and Caden have always been interested in transportation in all its forms, so it seemed like a good place to start. We really liked this museum! There was a lot of information about the evolution of transportation in London, in particular the iconic double decker buses and the under and overground train systems.
After the museum, we walked across the river and got lunch at Pieminister. We tried several different meat pies and thought the chicken and vegetable was our favorite.
We found dessert at a local bakery and shared three different pieces of cake from Konditor & Cook. The red velvet cake was the overall favorite.
From there, we split up. Keller and the kids took the overground back to our apartment in Battersea, while I took the bus over to a big grocery store. Waitrose was right next to the Battersea Power Station that is currently under development and the new US Embassy.
This Waitrose was MUCH bigger and had a lot more selection than the little stores we’d tried before. I tried to remember to limit my purchases so I could carry them reasonably, but I failed a bit on that account! My eyes are bigger than my arms, apparently. I ended up hauling four large heavy bags of groceries on two more buses to get back. Oops!
(As a side note, I am looking forward to being home and using the truck to get groceries. I can fill up a huge cart with everything I need and DRIVE it home. Bliss!)
Tuesday
London is full of museums, so we checked out the Science Museum in the Kensington area today. It was very interesting and had a lot of exhibits. We spent about two hours there before it was time to eat lunch.
Keller found a Polish restaurant nearby called Daquise that has been in the same place since 1947. Both kids liked it and it was a new cuisine for us.
We returned to the Science Museum for a few more hours before heading back to the apartment. The kids particularly liked the engineering exhibit with hands on visual displays to solve problems.
Kamy and Caden ate dinner on the terrace in the beautiful weather. After dinner I took the kids back to Battersea Park so they could play on the playground again.
Wednesday
Today we took the bus to the Royal Albert Hall. I’d purchased tickets for a backstage tour of the Royal Opera House, but I got mixed up and we went to the wrong theater instead! Ooops! We were not going to be able to get to the Opera House in time for our tour, so we opted to take the front of house tour at the Albert Hall instead. Our guide was fabulous and was a wealth of information about the Hall. It’s clear he has a passion for the performances and events they hold at the Hall. We were able to see the theater space, as well as the private Royal Box and the Queen’s private rooms.
While I was disappointed we did not get to tour the Opera House, this was a pretty good substitute! Apparently this mix up is pretty common. Oh well.
After the tour we ate pizza at Franco Manca before catching a bus up to Hyde Park. We went by Kensington Palace and went to the Princess Diana Memorial Playground. On the way we found a little carousel for the kids to ride.
The playground was pretty cool, with a large pirate ship climbing structure and plenty of sand and water. Kamy and Caden spent about two hours digging in the sand — making channels for the water and playing with other kids.
On the way home, we stopped at the grocery store for some basics and the kids shared some ice cream for good measure. I cooked dinner for everyone and we spent the rest of the evening at the apartment.
Thursday
Today we opted for a down day. The kids slept in, we had a leisurely breakfast, and the kids did some screen time before lunch at home. We played Dominion and Zilch and read books before our evening plans.
We had two tickets to the Swan Lake Ballet at the Royal Opera House. Since Keller had to work, I got to go with Kamy. We had dinner together at Pasta Brown, near the theater, where Kamy chose the seafood spaghetti. She ate most of it too! We had enough time to pick up some gelato from Amorino before the ballet.
Our seats for Swan Lake were very high, but we had a really good view and Kamy could see just fine. Plus we could see the depth of the stage and where all the dancers were supposed to be.
The ballet was very long, so it was nearly midnight by the time we made it back to the apartment. Kamy was one tired girl, but she had fun!
On the way back, we ended up taking subway. Kamy said she wanted to take the stairs instead of the elevator. Oh my! Little did we know that the subway platform was FIFTEEN floors below ground! Fortunately we were going DOWN and not up.
Meanwhile, Keller and Caden had dinner across the street at the Italian place, Melanzana. Keller joked that the two ladies working in the restaurant would take Caden home with them if he was free. =)
Friday
We went to the Victoria and Albert Museum this morning and got there right when it opened at 10am. We didn’t have high expectations and we were very impressed by the museum! The V&A is billed as a museum of decorative arts and design, but they have everything from sculpture to jewelry to medieval tapestries.
There were several kids programs available, including interactive backpacks for the kids to think about specific items. We did both the Medieval Life and the Glass programs. I liked that it made the kids slow down and think about the items rather than just breezing past artifacts. There was a scavenger hunt and a guided walk through of some of the most culturally important pieces.
We actually returned to the V&A after a break for lunch at Giovanni’s to see more of the museum!
One of my favorite spaces was the room of casts! Two enormous halls were purpose built to house plaster casts of famous pieces of artwork. Before the days of easy international travel, artists and students could come to the V&A to study masterpieces like David in London without having to travel all the way to Italy.
When the museum closed at 5pm, we walked up to Hyde Park to check out another playground. This one was definitely smaller and didn’t have as many things to do, but Kamy and Caden were still able to amuse themselves for about an hour.
Saturday
We had tickets to see the matinee performance of Wicked today, so the morning was spent at home. I cooked lunch before we got dressed up and headed to the theater. Keller bought excellent tickets for us, so we were in the center balcony and had a great view! Surprisingly the theater was not sold out and there were a lot of empty seats.
Both kids really enjoyed Wicked! They knew most of the story and pretty much all of the songs, so that made it more fun too. We waited after the show for Stage Door and Kamy was able to get a few signatures, including the actress who played Glinda. Kamy bought some postcards and both kids bought paper fans as souvenirs.
After the show we trekked across town to Honest Burgers. There was a bit of a line, but it wasn’t too bad. The burgers were pretty tasty and the rosemary fries were unusual. For dessert we went to Oddono’s and had some fabulous gelato! Keller and I are big fans of the chocolate hazelnut gelato while the kids tend to gravitate toward the fruity options like mango and lemon.
From there we split up, with Keller and the kids heading home while I went to the grocery store (again). You think I’d be used to shopping in small trips frequently, but I still miss making one big trip a week!
